Facile synthesis of SiO2–Au nanoshells in a three-stage microfluidic system

Abstract

The capacity to produce nanostructured materials with well-defined, specific properties in relatively large quantities is crucial for the viability of emerging nanotechnologies. Core–shell plasmonic structures, such as SiO2–Au nanoshells, are a type of nanomaterial where the control of morphological properties is especially important, given the strong dependence of the plasmon frequency on their characteristic dimensions. Here we present a simple, robust and scalable process to exploit the advantages of microfluidics to manufacture these sophisticated nanostructures. We show that the main sequential steps required to obtain SiO2–Au nanoshells can be carried out in a simple microfluidic system with significant savings in time and effort, and with an improved control over the product properties, compared to a conventional batch processing operation.